Infrared device may help dementia victims

EASINGTON, England, July 14 (UPI) -- A British dementia patient's progress using an infrared device in an experimental helmet could be "hugely significant," the device's developer says.

Dr. Gordon Dougal, a general practitioner from Easington, England, treated dementia patient Clem Fennell with his infrared device when Fennell's family sought help two months ago, The Daily Mail reported Monday.

He showed remarkable improvement in three weeks, Fennell's wife, Vickey, said.

"My husband, Clem, was fading away. It is as if he is back," she told the British newspaper. "His personality has started to show again. We are absolutely thrilled."

The helmet hasn't been proven in clinical trials but the family said the effects of the twice-a-day, 10-minute sessions were incredible, family members said. Fennell now can converse and go shopping unaccompanied, tasks that eluded him before the treatment, the newspaper said.

Dougal said he believes the device, which bathes the brain in infrared light, could help thousands of dementia patients.

Dougal, a director of the medical research company Virulite, developed the helmet with Sunderland University. The helmet has skull-penetrating 700 LED lights, thought to be the right wavelength that stimulate brain cell growth, slow memory decline and reverse dementia symptoms, The Daily Mail said.